A Tribute to Lifetime Members of No Shave November

[Charlton Hest...errr...Moses]

[Mr. Really Long Beard]

[Honest Abe]

[The Prince of Preachers - Charles Spurgeon]

[ Billion of Dead Things Buried Under Rock Layers 

Laid Down by Water All Over the Earth - Ken Ham]

[I hope to join the long line of legends.]

p.s. please inform me of any beards I might have forgotten.

Home for Thanksgiving

[Jonny 5 and his birthday cake]

So while at home I got to go to the party for the ages: Jonny 5's 26th birthday party held at Chuck E. Cheese's. It was a great party and a fun chance to see some old friends - some I hadn't seen since high school. 

[Top: The party clan - minus a few party poopers who left early]

[Bottom: Jessa, J - 5, Jordan, and Kurt aka "Bitter Bobby"]

Wednesday was my dad's birthday. I got him Tim Keller's newest book The Prodigal God.

For Thanksgiving my grandpa and grandma came to town on Wednesday and spent most the Thanksgiving day with us before they headed home. 

This morning I went to a new coffee shop and had a Chai Tea Latte and worked on my lesson for Sunday. Tonight some good friends came over for dinner and we had a good time eating homemade chicken noodle soup and catching up  on stories from the past year. 

Now my sisters are watching the 2 hour "24" special that my dad recorded from Monday night. Jack Bauer should've run for president. He's pretty much the coolest dude ever.

Secondhand Gems!

This post will serve as a brief update on what's been happening this past week.

I write this post from the exciting state of Iowa. Not Idaho - Iowa. It is a centrally located state in the good ol' U.S. of A. that provides corn and soybeans for the whole world. It also has a butter cow at the state fair. Other than that, there's not much here.

Sunday was a blast. There was a Sr. High "Dinner for Fifteen" after the morning service and a Middle School SNAC at the Roberts' home after the evening service. The Sr. High students spent their Sunday evening Oasis time helping to set up for the Clothing Closet that is happening on Saturday at Cornerstone. The students found a few gems in the midst of the thousands or articles of clothing and I was fortunate enough to take a few pictures.

[Karissa and Dave found some happenin' sweaters.

Personally, I'm a fan of the navy blue cardigan.]

[Anyone in need of size 58 pants?]

[Seriously, there are plenty of pairs to go around.]

[Jesus loves you SNOW much!]

[Hannah Montana anyone?]

Judgment Day! [the votes are in]

The day as arrived and in honor of it being naptime judgment day, I have enlisted the assistance of a friend of mine to help with the judging: Mr. Judgment Day himself, the governor of Cal-ee-fo-nee-a, Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Because of the abundance of submissions, I have chosen to announce winners in various sub-categories, culminating of the grand champion. Therefore, without any further ado, here are the judgments:

The Noah on the ark/Moses on Mt. Sinai/Jesus in the wilderness nap: 

forty winks (Rachel)

The Psycho ward/Rehab Naps:

euphoric* and ecstacy (Josh) addictive (Rachel)

*describes a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being sometimes exaggerated in pathological states as mania - www.dictionary.com

The "My Family Tree Never Splits" aka "Redneck" Nap:

gidderdone (Sarah Mo Mo)

The "Not To Be Confused With Recess Behavior" Nap:

exuberance (Abby)

The Conservative-Politician-in-Hollywood Nap:

rare (Dena)

The "According to Google that's not a Word" Nap:

restastic (Mike)

The Calvanist Nap:

God ordained (Rachel)

The Celestial Nap:

glorious (Josh)

The Boy-Scout-Helping-the-Old-Lady-Across-the-Street Nap:

helpful (Paige)

The "Very True but not the Grand Champion" Naps:

incredible (Parker) warm, cozy, stupendous (Abby) 

The "Detroit 7 Mile and Popstar Approved" Nap:

napalicious (Greg)

The GRAND CHAMPION word because it has come forth from the very one who carried me in her belly for 9 months plus a few days:

revitalizing (Mom)

a special thanks to Mr. Terminator for his help in judging this contest.

Happy No Shave November Everybody!

[yesterday*]

[this morning*]

[tonight]

I had a bit of a head start, but here's my picture of "No Shave November." (and a couple older random pics I found on the Mac to show the progression.) Beards + a face for them to grow on = awesome.

p.s. If you haven't joined the contest from my last post feel free to jump in. The competition is tight, but you can still win. 

*Actual times may differ from those given. Times given may or may not have been made up at the time of the writing of this post. 

God's Helping Hands and a Blog Game

[BJ, Kelly, Lindsay, Paul, and Abby]

Today was a Sr. High Trip out to God's Helping Hands. GHH is a food panty/clothing closet in the greater Detroit area that the students volunteer at one Monday night per month for two hours.

 [Part of the shopping area.]

Today was a special free holiday "shopping" day for people in the community who have legit financial needs. I was told that people started waiting out front at 6:30 last night and slept in their cars in order to be first in line for when the doors opened this morning. 

[More shopping. Books, movies, toys.]

Cornerstone students helped out from 8:00 - 12:00 today greeting shoppers, helping them with their shopping, restocking shelves, carrying items out to cars, and doing various other tasks. The students had great attitudes despite the cold, rainy, miserable weather.                 [Lindsay, Paige, and Rachel]

I was exhausted when I got home and so I just laid down on the couch to watch a little football. My dad called so I talked to him on the phone for a little bit and then I fell asleep. I love naps. Therefore, in honor of naps, let's play a little comment game here. Who can come up with the best adjective to describe the perfect nap? - which in my case happened on the living room couch with a good blanket and the sound of wind and rain gently echoing on the windows. 

There is only one (1) rule: Only one adjective per person per day. That way multiple people will have time to read the blog before certain people enter every word they could find in the thesaurus.* 

Please leave your response in the comments section.

I will give 1 week before announcing the winning word. 

*A "thesaurus" is a book containing synonyms - it's not a type of dinosaur named in honor of America's favorite definite article.

Good People. Good Tunes. Good Time.

Jessa had this great idea that we should all switch coats/ cardigans! I promise it was all her idea, and she was super excited about taking the picture wearing an oversized men's jacket.*

The concert tonight was incredible! We packed out the middle school room and I think everyone had a lot of fun.  Jordan and Jessa led a few corporate songs before spending about 45 minutes playing some of their own musical babies and talking about how God has worked in their own lives. Through it all, the night had some really incredible moments in which some of the students were really challenged and encouraged spiritually. I'm lucky to have such talented friends who work so hard on developing the gifts God has given them. "Good people. Good tunes. Good time." That's what I always say. Cheers!

*Much of what is included in this caption is complete and utter fabrication. 

Revenge, Comedy, and Good Books ... and Ugly Sweaters

Here's some catch-up on the last week. Last Wednesday night's lesson didn't go at all like I had planned. I had planned on preaching/speaking the same lesson I had given at the morning Bible study, but I began the teaching time by asking some of the students quote the memory verses and share what they had been learning in their lives. This turned into a great, incredibly interactive discussion which culminated in discussion about getting revenge. One student had gotten orange juice poured on his head at school by a girl and then he returned the favor and both of the students got sent to the principal's office. Another girl said that she had gotten slammed into her locker (or something like that) and so she got mad and punched the person (or something like that) to get back at them. Needless to say, this naturally lead into a beautiful time of discussing what it means to live as a children of God who obey scripture and not the fleshly desire to get even.
Friday night I went to an event at Woodside Bible called "Comedy for a Cause." It was a fund raising event for a childrens' home in the greater Detroit area. The event consisted of two stand up comedians, Nazareth and Daren Streblow each having about 45 minutes - 1 hour to just make people laugh. If you are a YouTuber, you can check out clips of their standup routines here and here. They were both very funny, and I am in talks with Daren about funny t-shirt ideas about Iowa because he wants to have a funny shirt about each state.
Random other news...Sunday was a "Dinner for Fifteen" (see the second part of this post for an explanation of what a "Dinner for Fifteen" is). I read Into the Wild over the weekend and I started Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World last night and hope to finish it tonight. I'm reading it quickly because I'm just borrowing it for the week. It's a great book and I'll buy my own copy of these days. I would recommend both books... Into the Wild is a "secular" non-fiction book, and Worldliness is a new "Christian" book edited by C.J. Mahaney. Also, tonight I'm going out for wings with my friend Rico.

P.S. If you haven't started your ugly Christmas sweater shopping yet, you should probably get started.

Two Days After the Day Before Yesterday

[This is me on the receiving end of the ol' fashioned "Catch-the-dirty-nasty-corn-kernal-in-yer-mouth-whilst-staring-at-the-sun" game.]

This past Saturday I went to the men's prayer breakfast at 7:00, and afterwards I went to Blake's Cider Mill with a group of friends. We ate doughnuts, drank cider, walked through a really wussy haunted house, and petted a llama, traversed endlessly through a corn maze, and raced haphazardly around a track on half-broken tricycles. It was a good time. Then we went to Cloverleaf for pizza and to Rachel Moen's house to watch Madagascar and have a bon-fire.

[It's worth pointing out in this picture that Kathryn and I were attempting to flash our "Corn Maze" gang sign for the picture. My urban visual more or less turned into a "C" with an indiscernable "M" exponent"]

Sunday was the student luncheon for families and it went really well. The students did a great job setting the tables and serving the food and the leaders did an impeccable job in the kitchen having all the food ready to go. The parents loved the video, and the students were nervous to see themselves on it but enjoyed hearing what their friends had to say.
Monday was Brooke's last basketball game of the season and her team's chance to finish 12-0! They are probably the best junior high girls basketball team I have ever watched. Brooke basically owned the first quarter scoring a couple layups and getting a couple steals. In the last quarter, she continued to get steals and rebounds and even sank a 3-pointer to cement a blowout victory. Congratulations Brooke!

While talking athletics, I want to give a shout out to Devin for being the player of the game in his football team's last game of the season. I wasn't able to be at the game, but I have gone to others this season and I'm glad he finished strong.[Danny serving his family]

This morning I taught the senior adults' Bible study because Patrick is out of town. I was able to lead the group in some singing and then preach for about 30 minutes. Afterward I was able to have a good hour-long talk with a lady who attends the group. Now I am looking forward to Oasis tonight with the middle school students. Cheers!

Want to not waste the next 11 minutes of your life? Watch this.

I was reminded of this video today that I first watched in Hebrews class at BBC taught by Dan Cruver, and I thought it would be a blessing to you all. It is a dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9-10 (ESV) and is well worth the 11 minutes - I promise. I have seen it many times and watched it again today in preparation for my lesson Sunday on the Passover Lamb. [ I tried to embed the video in my blog, but I couldn't get it to work so you'll have click on the picture use the link.]

Middle School Concert

Coming next Wednesday to Cornerstone Baptist Church for a special free Middle School concert: Jordan and Jessa Anderson! (click their names to listen to their music)